Marxism: Marx’s Capital.

Convener: Mark Cowling and the PSA Marxism Specialist Group.

2017 is the hundred and 50th anniversary of the publication of Capital Vol. 1. Marx’s great work is still a major source of inspiration and controversy. Contributions are invited on themes relating to Marx’s Capital. The following suggestions are by no means intended to exclude other ideas. Debate remains about the economic validity of the text, notably around the reduction of all forms of labour to simple labour as the basis of the labour theory of value, the transformation from value to price, and Marx’s theories of crisis, meaning issues of this proportionality between sectors of the economy, underconsumptionism and the falling rate of profit. Another issue is the continuity of Marx’s work, and the relationship between Capital and the young Marx. To what extent are themes taken from Capital relevant to capitalism today, with the continuance of economic crises and the massive growth in inequality in recent years? Can themes taken from the book in any way be the basis of the theory of justice? Does the coincidence between Marx’s descriptions of working conditions and those found in developing countries today imply continuing relevance? Has Marx’s theory become more relevant with the ending of colonialism, or do we still live in a world characterised by imperialism and monopoly capital as proposed by Lenin? To what extent is the book based on Hegel’s dialectic?

The intention is that the workshop will result in either a volume of a refereed journal, or an edited book.